Wash It All Away with new downloads!

Hi everyone,

Here I am again to show you some new download releases that have just been put onto the website.  This time there are two digital stamps and one backing paper collection.  Enough of my talk lets take a look,

These coffee takeaway cups have proved popular so I thought I would draw a couple more to add to your options, 'Thanks A Latte' would be great to send to a friend to just say thanks for being my friend.

Second coffee cup, Full Of Beans, people we know can get sick but that doesn't mean that we want to send a boring Get Well Soon card. A card to pep them up can be just what they need!

When I started designing this Wash It All Away backing paper download I didn't plan that it would be good for men but, with these deep colour and slightly grunged effect it has turned out just to be perfect for that.  It would be good for other stuff as well but aren't we all always a bit lacking craft stuff for the male creations we need to make?

Here's a card I made with the Wash It All Away backing papers,

I was pretty happy with it until I wrote on the little paper attached to the clip board.  I think I will pull the paper off and print something and re attach it.  I thought I'd share it with you anyway.  Feel free to agree with me!

OK, that's me done for this post.

Speak to you again very soon.
Anice xx

Happy Fathers Day!

It's Fathers Day, the day when crafters/card makers everywhere breath easier as super hard mens cards are behind us for another year!

Why are mens cards so hard?  I can't answer that question, but they are.  Here is a picture of the cards I made for our Dads this year.

There have both been created using the Funky Hand backing paper download Boys Will Be Boys.  The toppers are my own design on photoshop.

To have a closer look pop over to the Funky Hand DT Blog.  Get Funky and Craft.

So, as well as visiting blogs do you frequent any other social media outlets?  If you do, did you know that Funky Hand has a presence on most of them?  If not, why not visit us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest? There are fun things going on on all of them.

Take a look at the latest cards made by the Design Team for this months Forgotten Funky Summer Wedding on Pinterest. Very soon there will be competitions and give-aways happening on our Facebook page and I'm around on Twitter alot of the time and happy to have a chat..anything to keep me away from doing my accounts.  Hehe!

I hope to see you over there.
Speak again very soon
Anice xx

Making a flat card interesting.. Part 1

Hi everyone,

Today I thought I would talk about some of my ideas for creating flat cards that go through the post and don't cost you a fortune. But are still interesting to make and receive.

It's sad for us card makers but sending a beautifully crafted greetings card through the post is not only pretty expensive these days but the rough treatment they can receive on their journey can mean all our hard work is left in pieces in the envelope. I save all my fancy 'big' embellishments for cards I hand over these days, but that doesn't mean I don't bother much with the ones I send through the post.  You just have to think of ideas to make them flat but interesting!

This is a card I made a couple of days ago for Ians Sister Sandi.

I had to go through the post as we were not going to see her on the day so I decided that I would create something that was layered.  As Sandi is a girl, I went for the pinks and greens on the backing papers from the Fading Beauty collection.  I'd already decided that I was going to use a kraft tag that I'd bought a packet of recently, so I dug out a kraft base card.

Layering can come across a bit boring if you don't try to spice it up a bit. So, all the layers that I included I printed on thin white card. I inked around the edges of  each layer with a dried up black ink pad just to make them stand out a little from each other. I then scuffed them all up around all the edges using a file from a Basic Grey Precision file set I've had forever in my craft stash.

If you are interested in what this set is like and what you can do with it take a look at this video on the Basic Grey website http://www.basicgrey.com/pages/basicgrey_precision_file_set

You could use a metal nail file if you have one that should work OK as well.  I scuffed/roughed up the edges to give some texture to the card but it didn't add to the weight or thickness.

You probably haven't noticed, but I then got to the layers with a circle punch..

If you don't have time to colour a digital stamp or other sort of topper, adding a tag as a topper can work well..

So, there are a couple of ideas from me for a 'flat' card to send in the post that hopefully the recipient wont feel flat about when they open it!

Do you have any little techniques that you use to make a flat card interesting?  Tell me about them in the comments I'd love to hear them.

Speak again soon,
Anice xx

It's true, time flies when you are having fun!

Hello everyone,

No, I'm not giving you another reason why I haven't blogged for a month with my post title..though I suppose it would be a good one!

Today I am not talking about crafting. I want to talk to you about my milestone this month June 2014.  I have lived in the North East for 20 years!  I moved here on the 1st June 1994.

This got me to thinking about what I have done over the last twenty years..at first I thought, 'I haven't done much' but then I started thinking a little harder..

Since 1994 I have:

Lived in six different houses
Worked eight different jobs.
Worked two jobs at the same time once.
Got a divorce!
Saw a new Millennium in dressed as an Angel
Learned to drink and then given up again!
Been diagnosed with two long term medical conditions.
Owned and driven five different cars
Fallen in love many times, and discovered that it wasn't love!
Really fallen in love 'once'  (Love you Ian)
Owned a cat and a dog.
Been on two all inclusive cruises.
Travelled business class to America five times.
Learned to craft (this is still a work in progress)
Learned to use Photoshop
Learned to use Illustrator
Tried to learn Italian and failed
Started my own business
Won a business retail award
Appeared on TV with my products
Made loads of friends
Lost loads of friends (not something I'm proud of)

and that is just the tip of the iceberg. This list was long enough, I don't want to bore you too much!

It's easy to think that nothing really happens in your life day to day.  I have to admit I'm the worst for complaining that I never do anything.  But we all do alot in our lives and we just forget about it.  It's only when something makes you think, like my twenty years in the North East has, and you realise that you have done alot.

But there is alot more to be done in the next twenty year..what have you been doing?

Speak again soon
Anice xx

Oh, I passed my driving test twenty five years ago this month as well..though Ian might question whether I should have!